Ariana Rodriguez could hear the cheers from her friends in the bleachers as she put home a trio of layups toward the end of Marengo’s Kishwaukee River Conference game against Plano.

Feeding on the support from the home crowd, Rodriguez went to work in the post. The senior forward, who scored six points in the fourth quarter, finished with a team-high 14 as Marengo cruised over the Reapers 46-26 on Wednesday. Junior forward Macy Noe recorded a double-double for the Indians (15-8, 9-1 KRC), who held Plano to just three field goals over the first three quarters.

“Being able to have my friends here was amazing,” said Rodriguez, one of the players honored in a senior-night ceremony before the game. “It genuinely made me want to make more baskets and I was doing it for them... We knew we had an advantage in the post and our post players, like Macy and I, work really well together.”

Switching between zone and man-to-man defenses, Marengo had Plano (13-11, 5-4 KRC) out of sync all evening long. The Indians shut down senior guard Jadyn Long in the first half and limited the Reapers to only one made basket, a 3-pointer by freshman Le’Niya Viser, during that period. Marengo held a 19-5 lead at halftime.

“There was a lot of movement and a lot of knowing where we were,” said Noe, who had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Indians. “Our big thing is playing tough defense, coming out hard and shutting them down. It’s been all about our effort recently... Everyone’s had to step up and that’s improved everything 10 times more.”

Long banked in a triple near the start of the third quarter, her first field goal of the night. But the Reapers remained unable to crack a stifling Marengo defense. With Noe and Rodriguez leading the way, the Indians controlled the painted area, outrebounding Plano 28-12 and grabbing loose balls to close out defensive possessions.

“We all wanted to get this one,” Rodriguez said. “We knew we had to play good defense and during practice, we’ve been working really hard on getting low and making sure we’re not allowing them to just drive past us. I thought we did that really well today.”

Marengo, which extended its winning streak to six games, played through Noe in the first quarter. Gaining post position and catching passes from guards like Myah Broughton, who had six points, four rebounds and three assists, Noe put home one layup and worked her way to the free-throw line for three more first-quarter points.

“I have a lot of teammates pushing me,” Noe said. “For Ari and I, it’s definitely about getting it inside. A lot of our success comes from inside the paint, whether it’s through Ari or even some of our guards. We get the movement and then we find the open guards.”

Trailing 30-12 after three quarters, Plano finally found a spark on offense. Long drilled another 3-point shot and nailed a mid-range jumper to finish with a team-high 10 points, while forward Chloe Rowe, who had eight rebounds, scored on a pair of putback shots.

But the Indians iced their victory with a combination of layups at the rim and 3-point shots by freshman Sophie Hanson. Hanson, who made a team-high three triples, drained two in the fourth quarter to finish with nine points. Currently second in the KRC, Marengo will face unbeaten Johnsburg on the road Saturday.

“I felt like we came into the game very scared,” Long said. “It’s been a long week and I feel like we’ve been in a bad mindset. It weighed a lot on us. Our heads were down the whole game, but then we kind of brought our heads up in the fourth quarter.”

Plano, which had a six-game winning streak snapped with its loss on Wednesday, will resume KRC action at Woodstock on Saturday.